Burnt Orange

Congratulations to all who've been accepted to the LBJ School! A group of current students will be making contact with you all in the coming weeks to talk about the programs, school community, life in Austin, etc.

I have a Lenovo ideapad and love it. It's light weight and pretty reliable. Easy to trek around campus with it. I've decided to buy books though rather than using ebooks and take notes by hand for stats/econ. So that's something to consider. A lot of folks use their tablets in class and choose to buy ebooks for assigned reading to minimize costs and weight. So I think as much as your budget and preferences will allow, consider how you learn and how you want to learn. Best of luck!

Tangle wood is far enough from the action that the area is not crawling with undergrads, but I cant say what the demographics of the complex are.There may be a lot of undergrads there.

Congratulations! You are making the right decision. Be happy and enjoy graduate school. It's awesome...but don't take game theory. Ha!

As an LBJer, I have to say we're pretty upset about our lack of recent PMF placements. And it's not for lack of trying by students. Some programs do a much better job helping students prepare for the application process, test, etc. That's something we've struggled with in all honesty. While I wouldn't want to steer you away from LBJ, @Method makes some great points and if PMF is a major consideration for you, then your choice might be clear. Additionally, CHASP, LBJ's Center for Health and Social Policy, covers all facets of Education research (with a fantastic group of students and faculty). But a Center at Ford dedicated strictly to education might be something to consider. LBJ also had several Ed Pioneers selected this year with other folks working for the Texas Education Administration (TEA) and State Legislators covering Ed policy. We offer several education classes every semester at LBJ. And if you're interested in something not covered at LBJ, you can easily take classes in UT's top tier College of Education. You've got two good options. Consider the debt, experience, education, and quality of life. Good luck.

Camp LBJ is free to attend. No cost at all. It has a heavy math component to refresh concepts and mechanics but doesn't substitute for formal coursework or independent study and the qualifying exams. Rather, Camp compliments all of that. Camp also offers philosophy and policy lectures on a range of topics, many by LBJ faculty who stop in to lead a discussion. It's also very social. You won't be disadvantaged by spending your summer elsewhere but you'll certainly feel much better acquainted with Austiin, UT, LBJ, and your cohort if you attend. Hope that helps. Good luck with your decisions.

I concur with @ZacharyObama. The name of the degree, especially among the well regarded programs, matters less than student experience, learning environment, school specialties, faculty interests, etc. The two DC programs you mention will be different in those terms than LBJ. But you'll take courses on methods, management, policy analysis, etc. at all three. Best of luck. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat about LBJ.

LBJ Student here. Please feel free to PM me with any questions or post your concerns. I'll do my best to address them. Congratulations!

Congrats to the LBJ admits out there! Open houses will be held on Monday, March 25th and Monday, April 8th. This is according to the LBJ School Calendar.

The adcom should be meeting the last week of Feb to finalize the list with letters probably coming out the first week of March. I believe we do admission and funding in the same letter too.

Another UT Austin admit here. I'm actually already at UT in the LBJ School and taking classes in the Department. So if anyone has any questions, PM and I'll do my best to answer them.

I know the committee is meeting this week to finalize the list and probably hash out funding offers. Not sure which day this week but after reading @dworkable's post, I'd imagine no news is good news at this point.

I'd agree with ridofme insofar as "public affairs" being a dated title for the master's degree. But I wouldn't say that a "public administration" degree is more professional. Historically, public admin focused on management while public affairs/policy focused on analysis. But these days, public admin programs require policy analysis coursework and public affairs/policy programs require management coursework. The lines have blurred quite a bit. Moreoever, all of the top schools prefer if not out right require prior professional experience in candidates. I think any of the top schools/programs will give you what you're looking for. As far as degree names go, I know the LBJ School had to settle on MPAff as opposed to MPA (like WWS and SPEA) because UT has a 100 year old Master of Public Accounting program that preceeded the LBJ School. With regard to affairs vs. admin vs. policy, President Johnson was quite involved in the school's development and initial charter and favored "affairs" to "policy."

The MA in Security Studies at KSU is a solid option given your preferences. Something to remember about Government jobs is that federal hiring doesn't really take into account prestige of degree. That sort of thing will apply once you hit political appointee status. I'd read about KSU's program before applying to grad school and have looked at their PhD program a bit. A quick glance at the faculty will show that for the most part, they are folks with reasonably strong academic credentials and IR backgrounds. A lot of Army officers take courses and pursue degrees at KSU, including Security Studies, in addition to the Command and General Staff College curriculum. So many senior military officers will at least be familiar with the program. Something to consider if you hope to work in DOD. As for George Mason, I think that program is doing a lot of build its prestige to attract strong applicants and faculty members. Also, the DC community will be familiar with GMU. That could be of help to you beyond federal hiring. I recommend looking at faculty profiles and getting a sense of the student population. GMU will be a lot of part-time DC types with a great deal of professional experience while KSU might be very different. Determing how you want to learn, who you want to learn with, and who you want to learn from are important pieces to the equation that often play second fiddle to University brand, prestige, and cost. Hope that helps.

I'd also recommend you look at Columbia SIPA for it's MPA program. It has an international security concentration. Also look at Duke Sanford. There is a new National Security concentration there. It's in the third year maybe but not really sure if it's been added to the website. Finally, GW Trachtenberg has a National Security concentration for the MPP program. I'm interested in the same things and wanted a policy degree with an international / security concentration available. So I've done all the research on these programs and their offerings. I ultimately chose the LBJ School at UT for personal fit and family reasons. Hope that helps!

Like you, I want to be a consumer of data, not a producer, per se. So I considered the same things you did when looking at schools. Here are a couple of thoughts on Duke and Maryland. I applied, visited, and seriously considered Duke's Sanford School. My impression is that with a quant background like yours, you'll be just fine in their core curriculum. For those who choose to "hate their lives," there is a separate and advanced quant track. I really loved the community atmosphere. It was collegial and not at all competative. Moreover, the small size of the program makes it easy to build a community. So those are things to consider if that interests you at all. I also visited and considered SPP at Maryland. I really liked the building (housed w/ the B School) and had a chance to meet with a distinguished professor. I got the sense that a lot of faculty choose to teach at Maryland because it allows them to moonlight in DC working policy. I also got the impression that students don't spend a ton of time on campus or in College Park. Seemed like most folks commuted in from DC. The quant at Maryland seemed far less intimidating than Duke. In the end, community was important to me and chose not to apply to UMD because I didn't feel there was much of it there. Hope all that helps.

I'm heading to LBJ for the MPAff program this fall. Although I can't say for sure what the acceptance rate for the MGPS program is, I can tell you that the folks I met who are entering the MGPS program were all very sharp and offered quite a bit of merit aid. It was quite apparent that as LBJ builds the MGPS program, they are using their coffers and out-of-state tuition waivers to attract top candidates in global policy. I met a guy who was offered a full scholarship + stipend and airfare for the open house. He was also accepted to SAIS & Fletcher with some merit aid. So If you've been admitted to other top policy programs, I would say you will be competative at LBJ for not just admission, but money too. Hope that helps at least a bit. Good luck.

I've read and heard that Jackson is a great way to jump into Yale SOM if you are interested in an MBA as well. But I doubt it helps too much for Yale Law, considering how competative it is. Tough decision. You can't go wrong. Might want to consider the financial & personal preferences if you are completely stuck.

@State_School'12, have you decided on a school yet? I wonder if Duke in the long run would be cheaper, with your fellowship, than Berkeley? With CA hemmoraging money from state sponsored programs, to include the UC system, education is not cheap back home, relatively speaking, even for residents. Not sure if you're a Californian, but do you want to return to the west coast? If so, Berkeley is a hard brand to beat.

My two cents is Price. You've already got a background in international affairs. USC Price is strong in management, non-profit, and urban development issues. USC's School of International Relations (SOR) is solid too. But from what I gathered when I visited, SOR is a bit more Poli Sci than practicioner oriented. So you can augment with coursework there to stay abreast on international issues. It just won't be as policy oriented as you would get at Maxwell. And finally, USC is a beautiful campus with a great student culture and a strong alumni network.

I just love how much attention LBJ has been getting on the forum! Thanks everyone for you contributions. My take on this is as follows - all of the MPA/MPP programs I applied to had either national security or international affairs concentrations in the curriculum. That was very important to me as I didn't want to cobble together a specialized concentration with limited resources. So I too am very interested in the field. And while I did consider SAIS, Elliott, and Gtown SSP, I ultimately want a degree that will enable me to pivot to domestic / local policy should my career take me down that route post military. After visiting each school I applied to, I felt that the core courses would give me some great exposure to domestic policy issues while allowing me to focus on defense, security, etc. So with LBJs common and flexible core, I really do feel like I am going to get everything I want out of a graduate education. But I do concede, I won't be in the job hunt immediately after graduation as Uncle Sam already has something lined up for me. Like the folks who mention "Johns Hopkins SAIS" or "Havard Kennedy School" in their elevator pitches, I'll simply be saying "The LBJ School at UT-Austin." I'll be just as prepared, just as competent, and just fine. And so will you all!

@JAubrey, thanks for bringing the thread to life a bit. Actually, I didn't realize UT was a "Public Ivy" until I did a little more research on the school. Like @Esquared called it, it's a good school and among the best Public Universities in America. No doubt Cal, Mich, UCLA, UVa, and the like are more renowned across the country. But as I walk around the campus today, I can't help but appreciate thevibrant atmosphere, nice facilities, and Longhorn pride. I think Austin would be a great place to call home for two years! And the bottom line is that not too many people would look down their nose at LBJers for having gone to Texas. Just my thoughts.

@godlessgael, all vaild concerns. I'm in for MPAff and will do a lot of courses in Security Studies too. Given your interest in the field and concerns about funding and work, are you giving the Bush school a serious look now? They're pretty strong in Security Studies.

Well, I'll prime the pump, as it were, and throw out some pros to the LBJ School. Please feel free to chime in with your own pros/cons/perceptions of the program. 1. Flexible curriculum that allows students to avoid generic courses in advanced economic/policy analysis and learn all of that same material in the context of individual areas of interest, e.g. Political Economy for National Security, International Trade & Finance etc. 2. Option to write a Professional Report (Thesis) for those interested. 3. All the resources of a major research university with top 20 programs in not just Public Affairs, but Business, Law, and Education, among others. LBJ is also home to some very exciting research centers with interesting faculty. 4. Small community (relatively speaking) within a large university with a vibrant culture and close-knit feeling 5. Minimal to no undergrads taking courses at LBJ. A current student told me only undergrads with advanced standing can register for LBJ courses 6. The University of Texas at Austin is one of the eight original Public Ivies with a very strong national brand name. UT grads are everywhere. That coupled with state/Longhorn pride will go along way in places like DC, LA, or NY, even among non-UT or LBJ grads. 7. Tons of activities, sports, lectures, events, clubs, and organizations available to add to the academic experience 8. I've only been a couple of times, but Austin is a great city that balances metropolitan and outdoor lifestyles

All great options. I think you have to ask yourself where you plan to live post-grad school. Cal has a national brand name. CMU is especially prominent on the east coast. UCLA is great too but I'm not convinced Luskin has the same prestige that UCLA as a whole does.